Note 1 at Lk. 4:15: "Synagogue" in Greek means "an assembly." The word "synagogue" is used only once in the Old Testament in Psalm 74:8, because, before the Jewish exile, almost all of the religious activities took place in the temple at Jerusalem. During the Babylonian exile, however, the Jews began to assemble at designated places called "synagogues" for religious purposes. These synagogues were for prayer and scriptural instruction--not for sacrifice. Wherever the Jews went in the dispersion, synagogues were built. This can be seen in Paul's missionary journeys where he went into the Jewish synagogues (Acts 13:5,14; 14:1; 17:10). There were supposedly 480 Jewish synagogues in Jerusalem alone.

The Jews assembled in the synagogues every Sabbath (Acts 17:2) for the purpose of prayer and to hear the reading of the scriptures. The service was presided over by the rulers of the synagogue, of whom one was chief (Acts 18:8,17). However, the members of the congregation were allowed to speak, as we see with Jesus (Lk. 4:16-17) and Paul (Acts 13:15).

As with many churches today, the synagogues became very steeped in their traditions (Mk. 7:9-13), and the people as a whole did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah they read about every Sabbath (Acts 13:27). Jesus was persecuted by those in the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth (Lk. 4:28- 30), and when certain people in the synagogue at Ephesus spoke evil of the gospel, Paul separated the true disciples from the synagogue and disputed daily in Tyrannus' school (Acts 19:8-10). The Jews still meet in synagogues around the world every Sabbath day (see note 1 at Lk. 6:6, p. 105).